faroles! fireworks!

(From September 15th)

Independence Day is quite a show in any country... it was great this year in Costa Rica!

Yesterday night Elliott and I joined the local parade of "faroles," walking through an unknown part of Esparza and admiring all of the unique and colorful faroles. 2589 The 25899700 walk ended at a local school, and then we headed back to the central park of Esparza, where there were many people walking around, selling food and just hanging out...at 8pm there was a fireworks show in the paza, so we headed down to watch. It was nothing like what I have seen on the 4th of July...a much smaller display, and people allowed to get much closer. We stayed all the way through the end, and afterwards walked home to watch a movie.

Today we got up early and made breakfast (pancakes a la Meggie) and then headed to Puntarenas to see the parades. There were lots of good local bands and cool costumes, and it was hilarious people watching. We also jotted down several numbers of apartments or houses for rent...just to check out prices. I got sunburned and on the way back to Esparza it started pouring rain, by the time we arrived people had taken cover everywhere...under awnings, in the bank, the supermarket. We also arrived just in time to see a commotion going on in the central park, where two people got taken away in a police car. Crazy! We bought a few items and made an excellent dinner of pasta pomodoro, and opened a bottle of cabernet. I told Elliott we should have eaten some arroz con pollo...much more patriotic! All the same it was a great day, and I loved hanging out with my esposo.

We are thinking of visiting Santa Teresa in the next few days, to visit and possibly stay with a friend of Elliott's. Too bad I left all my favorite swim suits in Heredia...but either way I wil be working on my tan.

Pura Vida